The present invention relates to aromatic hydrocarbon resins containing vinylketone groups, and to polymers produced therefrom.
Mixtures of aromatic compounds containing polymerizable double bonds, e.g., indenes, styrenes and vinyltoluene, can be copolymerized to yield aromatic resins. Whereas such resins are relatively inexpensive because they can be produced from an unseparated mixture of aromatic compounds obtained, for example, from the steam cracking of naphthas, these resins have found limited utility because of their low molecular weight and relatively poor properties. Conversely, it is also known, for example from U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,566,302 and 3,223,679, that the degree of unsaturation of polystyrene resins having a molecular weight of preferably not less than 3,000, for example on the order of 40,000 to 50,000 can be increased by reacting an unsaturated acid chloride with the polystyrene in the presence of a Lewis acid.